Author Topic: Grammar that makes you cringe  (Read 835065 times)

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #1175 on: 01 December, 2010, 12:27:10 pm »
Pretty common in speech, particularly amongst people under 30 years old, and in print in the latest CTC magazine -

half a pence

Equally common among youngsters on super market tills giving change -
one pounds and one pence.

The hint is even written on the coin where it clearly says "one penny".

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #1176 on: 01 December, 2010, 12:33:24 pm »
What about people who say "five pound"?
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #1177 on: 01 December, 2010, 12:37:40 pm »
Pretty common in speech, particularly amongst people under 30 years old, and in print in the latest CTC magazine -

half a pence

Equally common among youngsters on super market tills giving change -
one pounds and one pence.

The hint is even written on the coin where it clearly says "one penny".

Within fifteen years dictionaries will be saying formerly plural, but now...

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #1178 on: 01 December, 2010, 12:42:00 pm »
Dictionaries will probably be online, with comments sections, like the Urban one.
It is simpler than it looks.

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #1179 on: 01 December, 2010, 01:12:42 pm »
What about people who say "five pound"?
Time-honoured. Long predates anyone alive today.
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #1180 on: 01 December, 2010, 02:50:11 pm »
What about people who say "five pound"?

They don't. They say "five paaahnd".

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #1181 on: 01 December, 2010, 02:55:28 pm »
You need to get out more, & read more old books. I used to hear it in rural Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire accents when I was a child, & I've heard it on the lips of Geordies, & many, many, others.
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #1182 on: 01 December, 2010, 03:00:14 pm »
Quote
I've heard it on the lips of Geordies, & many, many, others

Normal on this latitude, on both sides of the Pennines

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #1183 on: 01 December, 2010, 03:06:02 pm »
What about people who say "five pound"?

They don't. They say "five paaahnd".

d.


Oi've 'eard 'em say "Foive pewnd"!
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #1184 on: 01 December, 2010, 03:34:36 pm »
What about people who say "five pound"?

They don't. They say "five paaahnd".

d.


I've never referred to a green banknote as a 'five pounds' note...

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #1185 on: 01 December, 2010, 03:45:56 pm »
I've never referred to a green banknote as a 'five pounds' note...

Much in the way you hear "4 pint jug" or "20 gallon barrel".

But...

How much is that "Transformed Man" CD by William Shatner?
Five pound1.

1. Not a very good deal, even for his rendition of Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #1186 on: 01 December, 2010, 05:32:41 pm »
What about people who say "five pound"?

They don't. They say "five paaahnd".

d.


I've never referred to a green banknote as a 'five pounds' note...

They were all white in our day.  :-*
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

rower40

  • Not my boat. Now sold.
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #1187 on: 01 December, 2010, 07:12:58 pm »
Help! I'm proofing an article about a couple - Mr & Mrs Wiggins - and the copy says "the Wiggins's then moved to Johannesburg". Should it be "Wigginses" or "Wiggins" or what?
My 2p:
The Wiggins couple then moved...
Be Naughty; save Santa a trip

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #1188 on: 01 December, 2010, 10:31:30 pm »
Help! I'm proofing an article about a couple - Mr & Mrs Wiggins - and the copy says "the Wiggins's then moved to Johannesburg". Should it be "Wigginses" or "Wiggins" or what?

If you have to use the plural of Wiggins, it would be "Wiggenses", as in "dresses" or "messes" being the plurals of dress and mess respectively.

Sam

Yup. Nobody has a problem with "keeping up with the Joneses", do they?

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #1189 on: 01 December, 2010, 11:00:15 pm »
Would not the Wiggins family be known as the Wigginses, not the Wiggenses? It seems a bit odd to change the spelling of their name.

This thread is a minefield.

ravenbait

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #1190 on: 01 December, 2010, 11:56:49 pm »
Would not the Wiggins family be known as the Wigginses, not the Wiggenses? It seems a bit odd to change the spelling of their name.

Yes. That was a typo on my part.

Sam

Auntie Helen

  • 6 Wheels in Germany
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #1191 on: 02 December, 2010, 04:23:12 pm »
Slight issue was that one of said Wigginses would be checking my work once proofed.

In the end I went with "Fred and Thelma" (not their real names) although it was a bit awkward as we had this at the beginning of three consecutive paragraphs.

The whole thing is a minefield as I have to do a lot of editing of said Thelma Wiggins' work and I suspect it gets right up her nose; she's obviously not a 'copywriter' or 'proofreader' as she has many 'awkward' stylistic 'devices' which I continually have to 'remove' to make the work read more 'smoothly'. I feel like saying to her; "No, you don't do a semicolon before quotations." too. And should that have been a comma at the end of that sentence? Sigh.
My blog on cycling in Germany and eating German cake – http://www.auntiehelen.co.uk


clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #1192 on: 02 December, 2010, 04:39:23 pm »
Oh.  Well, that's wrong, too.  Everyone knows that Fred is married to Wilma. ;)
Getting there...

Gandalf

  • Each snowflake in an avalanche pleads not guilty
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #1193 on: 02 December, 2010, 04:45:49 pm »
Pretty common in speech, particularly amongst people under 30 years old, and in print in the latest CTC magazine -

half a pence

Equally common among youngsters on super market tills giving change -
one pounds and one pence.

The hint is even written on the coin where it clearly says "one penny".

I'm afraid that the poor old penny was demoted to the 'wumpy' pretty soon after decimalisation.

HTFB

  • The Monkey and the Plywood Violin
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #1194 on: 02 December, 2010, 04:58:01 pm »
The plural of Wiggens is Wiggentes. Or, if they're all neuter (you never know), Wiggentia.



Not especially helpful or mature

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #1195 on: 19 December, 2010, 06:48:42 am »
It didn't make me cringe but did make me smile when I read in a magazine that I should "apply a volume-enhancing moose to roots".
@SandyV1 on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/SandyV1

Gandalf

  • Each snowflake in an avalanche pleads not guilty
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #1196 on: 19 December, 2010, 07:11:52 am »
'Slippy'.   :sick: That is all.

rower40

  • Not my boat. Now sold.
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #1197 on: 19 December, 2010, 09:34:08 am »
It didn't make me cringe but did make me smile when I read in a magazine that I should "apply a volume-enhancing moose to roots".
A cycling guide to York has advice to cyclists: "Do not approach horses in a manor that may frighten them."
Be Naughty; save Santa a trip

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #1198 on: 19 December, 2010, 09:51:29 am »
'Slippy'.   :sick: That is all.

LOL!  Sorry...
Your Royal Charles are belong to us.

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #1199 on: 19 December, 2010, 10:47:23 am »
... a manor that may frighten them."

It's OK, Peckham's not in York.
Getting there...